I've read so much about DSLR's in the last few weeks that its getting harder to make a final decision.

My initial choice was between the d5100 and the 600d, but then I read a bunch of opinions that the image quality is getting better and better in the newer cameras, so the 650d entered the fray. Now I'm considering the benefits of the d7000 with its 2 sd cards and AF which sounds a winner. But, my budget would prefer not to have to go to d7000 $ if possible.

I'm also thinking that a touch screen may just mean one more thing to go wrong the day after my warranty ends!

All through this, I have in the back of my mind that the lens is the most important aspect of taking a good picture, so end up back with the d5100 or 600d.

First of all, if I'm not confused I think the D7000 will be out of your budget so we can get it out the way already. So now we are with the 650D vs D5100 vs 600D. I would recommend you to read Gordon's reviews of the D5100, 600D and 650D. Also if you want you can check Gordon's D7000 review.I think you should note that touch screens really don't tend to fail, I've owned several products with touch screens from different brands and I've never had any issues of malfunctioning. So if the touch screen failing is your only concern - which I think you shouldn't worry about - I can tell you that the 650D has quite some more advantages over the 600D so for the moment I will get the 600D out of the way.Now we have D5100 vs 650D. At this point I think it depends a lot on what are you planning to shoot.

So my questions here are: What are you going to use your DSLR for? Have you owned a DSLR before?

And by the way, the lens is the most important aspect to take a picture but the camera body also comes into play and in the film-era it might have not mattered that much, but now the camera is like the film as well so you have to choose wisely.

I made mention of the 7000 in case the overwhelming response was to save a little more and go for it, but it would mean a delay in my first dslr purchase, and to be honest, it feels like too much to spend on a camera, especially considering I'm not entirely sure how it will be used.

I have a 2 year old, so I believe there will be a lot of photo's chronicling his progress, but we also live near rain-forest, so we have plenty of flora and fauna on our doorstep. I'm not an bird watcher by any stretch of the imagination, but I suspect with a better camera, I may start noticing more and wanting to capture what I see.

On top of this, my wife is a bit of an artist and will no doubt want to capture a range of shots for inspiration.

So at the moment I am leaning towards the Nikon D5100, but am unsure as to whether to just go for the twin lens kit or to go for something like the Tamron 17-50 or Nikkor 18-70coupled with the Nikkor 70-300 in place of the kit and suck up the increased cost for those lenses. My other option is to consider the 18-200 or the 28-300 Nikkors. In saying that, part of me thinks I should just get the body with 18-55mm SIMPLY to understand the camera and what it is I want from it rather than getting all excited now and second guessing my preferences.

Other than price or how it feels in my hand, when I finally compare it with the 650d there's no 'compelling' reason to go for anything else.

Plus, I see good reviews for the Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G and the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G but am not sure if these will plug a gap or act in place of one of the standard lenses....so as I say, having done so much reading, I'm still confused!